


Perfect Pair

by Alternative_Reader



Category: Mighty Ducks (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternative Perspective, Angst, Eventual Smut, F/M, Modern Era, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-24
Updated: 2016-03-24
Packaged: 2018-05-28 18:34:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 7,123
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6340678
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alternative_Reader/pseuds/Alternative_Reader
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He was the worshiped and adored co-captain of the Junior Varsity Hockey Team.  She was a breathtakingly beautiful member of the champion Eden Hall Girls Fencing Team.  They were both superb and excellent athletes who felt an undeniable attraction to each other.  Adam and Sarah were perfect for one another.  They were two halves of the same whole.  The perfect pair.</p><p>Rating may change to mature later on.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Her Ladyship

(London, England)  
Lady Sarah Victoria Amelia Louden sat in the Foyer of Claridges, quietly sipping her tea. She tried to say as little as possible so as not to annoy her mother, the Duchess of Buckinghamshire, who didn’t particularly like hearing the sound of her voice.

“Sit up straight”. The Duchess said, without raising her head. 

Sarah pushed her back up, and braced herself.

“Is Dad coming?” She asked.

The Duchess frowned and winced.

“No, he’ll meet you before you leave for Minnesota”. 

Sarah slit her eyes. 

“Mum I’m happy here in England. I’m part of the fencing team, I have friends in school. Why do I have to go away?”. 

“We’ve discussed this”. The Duchess hissed. “Your father and I have already decided. You are going to finish school in America, and that’s the end of the matter”.

Sarah wanted to cry. It took all her composure not to scream, whine and bang the tea things on the table. She knew her parents had little love for her. Her mother tolerated her presence and her father, the 12th Duke of Buckinghamshire barely acknowledged her existence. 

That’s what happens when your Mum finds out that she’s pregnant, while trying to divorce your father. She bitterly thought. Her Dad would have happily signed the divorce papers too, except that her grandparents from both sides threatened their respective offspring with disinheritance if they didn’t raise her together. 

Her American grandfather didn’t want his daughter to lose her title, while the previous Duke of Buckinghamshire didn’t want an illegitimate granddaughter and a divorce to disgrace the family name. As a result, she was sent off to Boarding School as soon as she could read. Sarah sighed. It was a miserable childhood indeed. 

The Duchess pressed a cold quick kiss on her cheek and told her to be ready to leave for Heathrow, at nine in the morning. Sarah nodded and watched as the Duchess’ car drove away. She climbed the steps to her dormitory lugging two new large suit cases in each hand. 

“I’ll take that Ms. Louden”. Gregory, the night watchman said. 

“Thanks Greg”. Sarah replied. “Can you please have someone send them to my room? I have to pack in a bit”.

“Sure”. Gregory nodded. “Where you off?” He asked.

“I’m being shipped off to Minnesota”. Sarah said sourly.

Gregory looked surprised. “I can understand New York or California. But why Minnesota?” 

“My Mum is from there”. 

Sarah tried not to laugh when she saw the shock in Gregory’s face. 

“Did you think that the grand Duchess of Buckinghamshire was your quintessential English Rose?” Sarah giggled. “That she was of the aristocracy?”

Gregory said nothing. 

“Hah!” Sarah almost screamed. “The Duchess came from a family of farmers in Edina, Minnesota. Her father, my grandfather, sent her to London when she was eighteen, to look for a husband. Now sixteen years later, she's more royal than the queen”. 

“So why are you going there?” 

Because she can’t stand my existence and she wants me to wither and die like she would have, had she stayed. Sarah wanted to say.

“Because she wants me to know my roots in America”. She finally said.

Sarah walked the dark corridors back to her room. She tried not to cry as she thought of the impending trip. She wanted to stay here in Wolsham Abbey. It was her third boarding school and it was where she first felt at home in her sixteen years. 

Her composure fled when she passed the fencing room. Tears fell from her eyes and she violently sobbed. It was here in Wolsham where her skill in fencing was honed. She had been part of the fencing team for three years and she considered the members her family. 

The training in Wolsham was excellent. The girls fencing team was ranked first in the entire Great Britain. In her case, she was fifth in her age group in Europe. Like her father, a gold medalist Olympian, she was an extremely skilled swordsman. People assume that he taught her, but he didn’t. She learned by watching him spar with her brother while growing up. 

When she was five years old, she expressed her interest in learning how to fence. Instead of showing her the basics, he told his secretary to enroll her in a class nearby. Since then, he never asked about her progress in the sport. He even instructed her to use her mother’s name during her training and competitions, so as to conceal her connection to him.

Sarah was happy when her parents watched her first tournament. She didn’t do so badly and even won a few matches. But her heart broke when they began discussing her brother’s performance in the male division, immediately after. 

Since then, she resolved to make her father proud, by becoming the best fencer in the world. He supported her cause by paying for the equipment and her private training with the greatest fencing masters in Europe. But as she rose through the ranks, it became quite clear that he couldn’t care less whether she did well or not. Whether she lived or died. 

She only found out about her imminent exile a week ago. Her father’s secretary called and told her to meet her family at the Savoy for high tea. She was ecstatic. She hadn’t seen any of them for three months. She really missed them, and she made herself believe that they missed her too. 

She expected a happy reunion, but her mother’s cold tone immediately pulled her back to reality. The Duchess told her that they were sending her to Eden Hall Academy in Minnesota. She will flourish in America, she and her father said.

Sarah couldn’t breath. 

“But I’m flourishing here!” Sarah heard herself scream, but she didn’t care. 

“What about the fencing team! I’m ranked fifth in Europe now!”

Her parents ignored her and silenced her with a look. The Duchess quickly changed the subject and talked about the weather. 

Her brother Nicholas drove her back to School that evening. He told her that he tried to talk sense to their mother. He begged her not to send her to Minnesota. He knows she’s happy in Wolsham. But the Duchess had already made up her mind, and once that happens, they both knew that it was closed forever. 

Nicholas asked her not to be too unhappy. He read up on the schools in Minnesota and found out about Eden Hall Academy. He told her that it had an amazing fencing team that was ranked first in the State. The Girls team, he claimed, was coached by Madame Dominika Toussaint, a gold medalist Olympian, like their father. 

He suggested that she be sent to Eden Hall instead of the far away convent school which her parents preferred. Fortunately for Sarah, the Duchess loved her son, and listened.

When Sarah got back to her dormitory, she locked herself in her room and cried. She cried every day for an entire week, hours on end. She didn’t leave her room for three days, until the teachers who began to worry, forcibly opened the door and carried her to the infirmary. 

By the time she had tea with her mother in Claridges, she was physically and emotionally exhausted. She packed her things and walked out of the school, her home, numb and dry eyed.


	2. First Day

(Eden Hall Academy) 

Sarah followed Melanie, her assigned student mentor, along the grounds of Eden Hall. She had only been in the School for two days and already she felt alone and out of place. As they passed a group of giggling girls, Sarah thought of Wolsham, and a twinge of homesickness pierced her gut.  
“Everything alright?” Melanie asked in a southern drawl. 

“Yeah.” Sarah responded in her own cut glass English accent.

“How do you like Eden Hall?”

Sarah shrugged. 

“It’s interesting, I suppose”. 

Sarah was used to being around girls who spoke clearly but softly, with voices almost whispering in their discretion. Her peers in Wolsham were graceful and demure, never letting anyone know what they were feeling. 

It was therefore both novel and terrifying for her to be around people who were as unrestrained with their emotions as they were in their actions. The students in Eden Hall spoke as loudly as they liked. When they were excited, they jumped or clapped their hands. If they were angry or frustrated, they let it show. And when they were happy, they laughed, richly and ebulliently. 

“We’re nearing the library. I have to go soon”. Melanie reminded her. “Is there anything else you want to know?”

“Yes”. Sarah said. “Who can I talk to about joining the fencing team?”

Melanie hesitated.

“Well…they’re very good and you need to try out. But their coach is…” 

Melanie made a face and refused to finish the sentence. 

 

“You’ll find out about Madam Toussaint soon enough”. She quickly said. I’ll introduce you to Mabel Pierson, the captain.

Sarah thanked her and walked back to her dormitory. She was meeting her roommate who arrived that morning. She was a fellow sophomore, and the goalie of the Eden Hall Mighty Ducks Junior Varsity Hockey Team. 

Sarah turned her key on the knob, and struggled to remember her roommate’s name. 

“It starts with a ‘J’. So is it Jane or Judy?” She thought, as she entered the room. 

Sarah’s roommate was reading on the bed across from hers. She was a sweet faced girl with dark blonde hair and large almond shaped brown eyes. And though a little plump, she was still very pretty. 

“Hi I’m Julie, Julie Gaffney”. She said as she smiled and raised her head. “You’re Sarah right?” 

Sarah smiled back. 

“Yes. Pleased to meet you Julie”. 

Julie shut the book and put it away. 

“So, where you from Sarah?”.

“London, England. You?”

“Bangor, Maine”. 

Julie directed her chin towards Sarah’s bed, where a saber, a foil and an épée lay. 

“Are those yours?”

“Yeah”. 

“You a fencer?”

Sarah nodded. It was her turn to ask the questions. 

“So you’re the goalie for the hockey team?” She asked.

Julie grinned. “Yup, the Eden Hall Mighty Ducks Junior Varsity Team”.

Sarah heard a tinge of pride in her voice when she said that. 

Classes started three days later. Sarah nervously put on her royal blue school cardigan and tied her long corn yellow hair in to a pony tail. She didn’t want to attract attention and prayed that the day would end quickly, without incident. No such luck. 

Closing the door to her locker, she sensed someone come uncomfortably near. She turned to her right and was confronted with the sight of four boys in red and white jackets. One of the boys, who was tall dark and tan directly faced her and stood slightly apart from the three boys behind him. 

“Hi”, he smirked. “What’s your name?”

Sarah admittedly thought he was handsome. But she found his arrogant air and smug tone unappealing. 

“Sarah”. She answered. 

The boy nodded approvingly.

“Sarah, that’s a pretty name. Are you a freshman?”

Sarah shook her head and turned to leave. 

“Excuse me” She said. 

The second boy, who was fat with dirty blonde hair, blocked her way.

“Sarah, he said in a surly tone. “We’re from the Eden Hall Warriors Hockey Varsity Team. We want you to sit with us at lunch later”. 

Sarah felt her heart pounding as the fat boy grinned at his companions before him. 

“Thank you”. She said in a small voice. “I’ll think about it. Please excuse me”. She repeated. “ I’ll be late”. 

The fat boy didn’t budge and the dark haired boy moved across her. She was surrounded. 

“Listen, princess”, he said in a menacing tone.

“You’re not from here, so we’ll overlook your ingratitude. You’ll find out that girls consider it a privilege to be part of the Varsity Hockey Team’s entourage. Not every pretty girl in Eden Hall gets to hang with us”.

“Let me go!” She hissed. 

The dark haired boy leaned his head down, inches from hers. 

“Or what?” he snickered. 

“Or I hurt you”. 

The boys laughed. Not noticing the long shiny object she clutched in her knapsack. 

Sarah turned to the fat boy. Three against one, she thought. I can do this. 

“I’m warning you boys!” She said loudly. 

The boys continued to laugh and took another step near her. Suddenly, she pulled out her sword and aimed it at the fat boy’s his chest. 

Jumping back, he screamed.

“What the hell!” 

“Relax Cole”. Sarah heard the dark haired boy say behind her. “It’s a foil, it won’t kill you”. 

“It’s a saber”. Sarah corrected him.

Without looking away from the fat boy’s eyes, she pressed the tip of the sword to his heart. 

“It may or may not kill”. Sarah said matter of factly, nodding her head from side to side. “But I can do things which will make you wish you were dead. Do you want to see?” She asked sweetly. 

The people in the hallway laughed. 

The fat boy called Cole moved away. But the tip of the sword found his heart once more. 

“So”, she said cheerily. “Can I leave now?”

Cole stepped aside and allowed her to walk away. His chest hurt from both the pain of the sword and the intense desire to punish her. 

After she disappeared along the hallway, the group turned to face a pair of boys who were laughing hysterically in the corridor. 

“Oooh…the varsity team got their ass kicked by a little girl!”, the taller of the two said in a mocking tone. 

“What will the entire school say?” The other boy teased. 

Cole’s face turned beet red. 

“I’m kicking your ass Bash brothers!” he snarled, as he stomped towards them.

The pair balled their fists and prepared to attack. But before anyone could throw a punch, the Dean arrived and told them to go to class.


	3. The Ducks

(Biology class, first period) 

Portman took quick strides through the door and bellowed.

“Guys! You won’t believe what just happened!”

“It was eeee-pic!” Fulton rasped in awe. 

What? The other ducks asked in unison.

Portman was laughing so hard his chest was heaving. 

“Riley and Cole got their asses kicked by some hot blonde babe! They tried to force her to join their entourage so she pulled out a sword and scared the crap out of them”.

The whole room laughed. 

“Who’s the girl?” Julie asked.

“I’ve never seen her before”. Fulton answered. “She’s pretty with blonde hair. Doesn’t sound American though”. 

“I like her” Portman said. “Maybe we should invite her to join the Basher Babes instead. But we ask nicely. With an invitation, flowers and candy and shit”.

“That’s probably Sarah, my roommate” Julie quipped. “She’s a fencer from London. She’s really nice”.

Luis who was sleeping on his desk, raised his head and pulled out his phone. 

“Sarah what?” He asked.

“Loo-den”. Julie answered, emphasizing the syllables. 

“Spell”. 

“Sarah with an ‘h’ and then Lima, Oscar, Uniform, Delta, Echo, November. 

Luis stuck out his lower lip and shook his head. “No Sarah Louden on facebook”. 

Kenny looked over his shoulder. 

“Try Twitter then”, he suggested. 

“Already did bro”, Russ said looking at his laptop. “Not on twitter either”.

Suddenly, Dwayne’s voice was heard crying across the room. 

“Yeehaw! Check instagram. Darn, If this is her, she’s as pretty as a little red heifer!”

Averman scrambled to Dwayne’s seat. 

“Ey Cowboy let me see!” he said grabbing the phone. 

“Is this her?” he asked, handing the phone to Julie. 

Julie glanced at the screen and nodded. 

“Yup.”. 

The boys gathered around Dwayne and passed his phone around. 

“Whoa!” Charlie whistled.

“Oooooh!” Jessie drooled. 

“She’s one pretty lady…” Goldberg nodded appreciatively. 

“Fencer”, Guy mused. “So I guess she likes playing with sharp things then”. 

Connie playfully slapped him on the shoulder and the whole team laughed. The whole team except for Adam , who stayed in his seat and pretended to focus on the book before him.


	4. Ten Minutes Before First Period

Cole moved and Sarah walked away as fast as she could. Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes stung with tears she refused to shed. 

“Hang in there”, she muttered. “Don’t cry. Don’t you dare cry…”

She walked without looking and it was no surprise that she collided with the boy in front of her. Her knapsack fell, scattering her things on the floor. 

“Ahhh!” She gasped, dropping to the ground. 

The boy immediately followed. 

“Sorry…” he said handing her the things. 

Sarah quickly shoved the proffered items in her knapsack. 

“Oh no, the fault is mine”. She said keeping her eyes on the ground. “I wasn’t looking, sorry”. 

The boy stood and offered his hand. Sarah took it, and he gently pulled her up. 

On her feet again, she saw his face and suddenly blushed. 

“Oh God. He’s gorgeous”. Sara thought. 

He was the perfect Adonis. Golden brown hair with deep sapphire blue eyes. Though his nose was a little large, it was beautifully sculpted in a perfectly masculine mold. Sarah estimated that he was almost six feet tall, and that it would take two of her to fill the breadth of his chest. 

“Are you alright?” He asked, in a deep and sonorous voice.

Sarah unconsciously tucked her hair behind her ears and avoided his gaze. 

“Yeah”, she almost whispered. 

“All right then, I’ll go now”. He mumbled.

But before he could turn, Sarah spoke. 

“Sorry…I didn’t get your name?”

The boy felt a thrill go through him. 

“A-Adam. Adam Banks”, he replied.

“Pleased to meet you Adam, I’m Sarah. Sarah Louden”.

The boy curled his toes in a painful grip. 

“Are you from England?” He asked shyly, almost eating his words. 

“Yes”. Sarah nodded. 

The boy grinned and slipped his hands in to the pockets of his jacket. 

“I can tell from your accent”. 

“I’m new”. Sarah volunteered, suddenly finding herself unable to stop talking. 

“I find this place utterly terrifying. I feel so lost here”. 

The boy nodded as he clutched the lining of the pockets. He knew exactly how she felt. 

“Where’s your room?” He asked. 

Sarah bit her lower lip and tried to focus. The number was at the tip of her tongue. 

“315”. She said, pretending not to be flustered. “Or wait, maybe it’s 312?” She giggled. “I’m not sure. But it’s history with Mr. Gallows”.

“It’s 315 then”. The boy nodded. “The room’s further down the hall. I can show you if you want”. 

Sarah was relieved. After the incident with the four boys, she didn’t want to be alone. 

“Yes, please”. She smiled, and the boy quickly looked away. 

Sarah wordlessly followed Adam, anxiously clutching the straps of her knapsack on her chest. She was oblivious to the stares they were attracting, and she was too naïve to notice the dagger looks several girls threw her way. Upon reaching her room, Adam opened the door and ushered her to the nearest empty seat. As soon as she was settled, he left.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's quite short. But more will come I promise. I have so many ideas. I've been thinking about this story for years since I was a child, it's only now that I've actually tried to put it down on paper. Please bear with me. This is my first time to write fan fiction.


	5. It's Her

After escorting Sarah to her class, Adam crossed over to room 314 next door. First period Biology with his teammates. He entered the room and took his usual seat beside Charlie.  
“Ey…” Charlie said, raising his fist.

“Sup”. Adam responded giving him a fist bump.

Adam sat down and tried his best to settle down. His heart was pumping with adrenaline and his thoughts were rapid and incoherent. His mind kept wandering to the encounter he had a mere ten minutes ago with Sarah.

“What if she thought I was an idiot?” He asked himself. 

“Did she think I looked stupid?”

“Or maybe she thinks I’m stupid?”

“Did I look okay?”

A million and one possibilities of why she might detest him entered his mind and he mentally groaned.

“Oh god I want to die…” Adam thought as he buried his head in his arms. 

“You alright?” Charlie asked.

Adam sat up straight.

“Yeah, late night”. He answered.

Suddenly Portman and Fulton burst into the room. 

“Guys! You won’t believe what just happened!” Portman screamed. 

“It was epic…” Fulton commented. 

“What?” The rest of the team asked in unison.

“Riley and Cole got their asses kicked by some hot blonde babe! They tried to force her to join their entourage so she pulled out a sword and scared the crap out of them”.

“Sword?” Adam thought. He remembered seeing Sarah pick up a sword and put it in her bag. He bit his lower lip. 

“I’ve never seen her before”. Fulton said. “She’s pretty with blonde hair. Doesn’t sound American though”. 

“It’s her!” Adam’s mind screamed, his eyes growing wide. 

“I like her!” Portman boomed. He looked at Fulton and nudged him with an elbow. 

“Maybe we should invite her to join the Basher Babes instead. But we ask nicely. With an invitation and flowers and candy and shit!”

“Yeeeeaah!” Fulton cried, nodding in agreement.

Adam frowned.

The Basher Babes were a group of girls who followed the Bash Brothers around school and cheered for them during games. They hung around Portman, Fulton and Kenny and served as their personal escorts and entourage. They made t-shirts, posters, planned events and even managed the Bash Brothers’ social media accounts. Adam thought they were very nice and sweet, albeit a little wild. But they were nothing more than groupies who took their obsession with his teammates to a new level. It was a well-known rule that Basher Babes had to be single. Once they get boyfriends they were required to leave. 

“She can’t be a basher babe!” Adam thought desperately. “I won’t be able to date her!” 

He was suddenly glad that Portman, Fulton and Kenny took the “Bros before Hoes” code very seriously. Before they invited any girl to be a Basher Babe, they first asked the other members of the team if anyone had any problems with it. They always respected a teammate’s concern and they stayed away from a girl who a Duck was interested in or had problems with. He hoped that they would do the same now.

“That’s probably Sarah, my roommate”. He heard Julie say. “She’s a fencer from London. She’s really nice”.

“She’s roommates with Julie? Awesome!” Adam mentally squealed, quickly looking down his biology book. 

He couldn’t follow the conversation after that. All he cared about was that they were talking about Sarah and that he could get to know her through Julie, who was his very good friend. Julie would help him. He was sure of it. He suddenly became aware of people getting up from their seats and surrounding Dwayne. He saw them passing around a phone through the corner of his eyes. He could hear their approving sounds and appreciative comments. Then he realized that they found her online and saw that she was breathtakingly beautiful 

“And they haven’t even seen her up close”. Adam thought with a grin. 

“Fencer”, Guy said. “So I guess she likes playing with sharp things then”. 

The whole team laughed and Adam winced. If that had come from anyone else other than Guy he'd find himself with a broken nose. He thought.


	6. An Old Friend and a Try Out

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chris Cross looks like a younger and leaner version of Joseph Gordon Levitt, with deep green eyes.

Sarah couldn’t focus in class. All she could think about was Adam. She felt a strange energy surged through her, which made her want to jump, lie on her back, kick her legs in the air and scream his name.

Her restlessness continued until lunch break, and she felt very relieved to finally meet Mabel, the captain of the girls fencing team. 

“Sarah, right?” Mabel said, after shaking hands. 

“Yes”. Sarah replied.

Mabel reviewed Sarah’s application. 

“So you competed for your school in England”.

“Yes”. 

“Okay, be in the P.E. gym at 4:00 in the afternoon. Madame Toussaint agreed to give you a try out.

“Alright”. Sarah nodded. “Will do, thank you”. 

At 4:00 Sarah found herself waiting for Madam Toussaint in the gym, dressed in her white fencing uniform. She was browsing her I-Pad to kill time when she suddenly heard a familiar voice beside her.

“Sarah!”

Sarah looked up and shrieked. 

“Oh my goodness! Chris!”. 

Sarah scrambled to her feet and put her arms around the tall dark haired boy. He had a lean fencer's body and beautiful piercing green eyes. Like her, he was in his fencing uniform and was holding a shiny gold foil. Chris briefly returned her embrace and asked,

“Nikki said you were here. How is he?” 

Sarah smiled. 

“Nicholas is doing well. He’s training for the Olympics. He did say you're a junior and that I could go to you if I needed anything”.

Chris gently patted her shoulder. 

“That you can. Are you trying out?”

“Yes. I’m nervous”. Sara said almost whispering. Chris grinned and shrugged.

“The girls team is good, but you’re better. I know, because we’ve trained together. But Madam Toussaint is the coach from hell”.

“What do you mean?”

“She’s unreasonably strict and controlling. The girls call her Madame Fuhrer”. 

Sarah laughed.

“That’s not very nice”. 

“Well she’s not very nice either. I doubt you’d want to fence after training with her. But the girls team is ranked first in the entire State and third in the entire United States. While the Boys team, though first here in Minnesota, is only fifth Nationally”. Chris admitted. 

“To be fair though, she’s the best, you’ll do well if you survive”. He said. 

“Wish me luck then”. 

Chris grinned and looked down at Sarah’s face. She grew up to be so pretty, he thought. He raised his hand and gently stroked her cheek,

“Bon chance ma petite soeur”. He said.

“Merci, mon frère”. Sarah murmured. 

Before Chris could let go of Sarah’s cheek, the sound of sharp clacking heels reverberated through the gym. Sarah turned and saw that they came from an extremely thin woman in very high stilletos dressed all in black. The woman stopped and stood across her. 

Chris immediately let go of Sarah’s cheek and made his excuses. Sarah thought he couldn’t get away fast enough. 

“Sa-ra Looden?” The woman asked in a Russian like accent. 

“Yes Maam”. Sarah answered.

“I am Madame Dominika Toussaint”. The woman said.

Sarah began feeling very small. “My gosh! She’s a giantess!” She thought. Madame Toussaint looked as if she stood six-feet tall even without her ridiculously high heels. 

“Good afternoon Ma’am” Sarah said. 

“I understand you want to try out for my team?” Madame Toussaint drawled. 

“Yes Ma’am”. Sarah nodded. 

“Do you have any prior experience?”

“Yes Maam”, Sarah answered. “I was part of my old school’s fencing team back in England”.

Madame Toussaint pursed her lips and snorted. 

“And where in England did you go to School?” She asked. 

“Wolsham Abbey”. Sarah answered proudly. 

Madame Toussaint waived her hand dismissively and said,

“I’ve never heard of it. But come, let’s see what you can do”. 

Madame Toussaint led Sarah to a door in the farthest corridor of the gym. 

“This is the fencing room”. Madame Toussaint explained. She opened the door and led Sarah inside. 

Sarah found herself in a training room which looked like the one in her former school. Except this one was a little bigger and newer. Sarah looked around and saw a panel of three people. On the left side of the room, a group of almost twenty girls sat in a set of wooden bleachers which almost occupied an entire wall. Madame Toussaint returned to her empty seat in the panel and addressed them. 

“Girls! This is Sarah, she would like to be part of your team”. 

She then looked at Sarah and told her the rules. 

“I have seventeen fencers with me. If you beat twelve of them then you’re in”. 

Sarah felt queasy. “Twelve? Twelve out of Seventeen? Can I do this?” She thought. 

“We start now, go there to the yellow line”. Madame Toussaint said, pointing to the spot on the floor.

Sarah did and watched as her first opponent approached her. 

“En garde!” One of the panelists screamed. Sarah put herself in guard position. 

“Pret!” Sarah focused on the girl before her.

“Allez!” 

It came like an explosion and Sarah lunged. She disengaged her opponent in less than sixty seconds and won her first match. 

After beating a girl, another one immediately took her place. If Sarah wasn't focused she would have noticed Madame Toussaint’s attempts to exhaust her. After her seventh consecutive win, the Panelists called for a break. Sarah was relieved. 

“You okay?” Chris’s voice asked from behind her. 

“How’d you get in here?” Sarah asked, as she sipped from her water jug. 

Chris shrugged. “My coach is one of your panelists”. He grinned. 

“Are your try-outs always this thorough?” Sarah asked overwhelmed.

“Nah! Just the girls team”. Chris said. He leaned closer to Sarah and whispered, “I told you she’s the coach from hell”. 

“God…five more!” She groaned. 

“Oh don’t worry about that”. Chris said conspiratorially. “You weren’t supposed to get this far”.

“What do you mean?” Sarah asked, confused. 

“They start with the best fencers. Madame Toussaint’s try outs aren’t very long. She wants to see how good a fencer is from the start. So she pits them with the best first, and sees how they respond as they face weaker opponents. You did quite well actually”. Chris assured her. 

Madame Toussaint frowned as Sarah and the captain of the boys team chatted as if they were old friends. She made a mental note to find out the depth of their relationship. If Sarah wants to be part of her team, she will have no time to mingle with the opposite sex. 

“They are distractions!” Madame Toussaint thought decidedly. 

“Who is this girl Pete?” She asked the man beside her. 

Pete Ashton the coach of the boy’s team flexed his finger muscles and replied, 

“The daughter of an Olympian. She’s ranked fifth in Europe for her gender and age division”. 

Madame Toussaint glanced at the files in front of her. 

“I didn’t know Lord George Louden had a daughter who was a fencer. I’ve heard of his son Nicholas but not of any daughter”.

“I called some people in Wolsham Abbey”, Mr. Ashton revealed. “Apparently Sarah competes under the name ‘Stockworth’. Her mother’s maiden name”. 

“Stockworth? The family from Edina?” Madame Toussaint asked. 

“I suppose”. Mr. Ashton nodded. 

“The girl is good”. Madame Toussaint thought. “Very good”. 

“Do you mind if I borrow Mr. Cross for a while?” She asked. 

“Why?” Mr. Ashton replied, amused. 

“I want to see what she’s made of”. Madame Toussaint smiled. 

Mr. Ashton sat back on his chair and folded his arms on his chest. 

“Go ahead”. He grinned. 

“Mr. Cross!” Madame Toussaint shouted from across the room. 

“Got to go!” Chris mouthed to Sarah.

Chris walked towards the Panelists table. 

 

“Yes Madame?” He asked. 

“I want you to spar with Ms. Louden”. Madame Toussaint said. “It will be part of her try out”.

“I approved it. Don’t go easy on the girl”. Mr. Ashton added.

“How do you know her?” Madame Toussaint asked.

“I’m friends with her brother Nick. I train with him in London during the summer”. Chris replied.

“Have you ever sparred with her before?” Madame Toussaint asked. 

“Yes. Every time I’m in England”. Chris confirmed.

“Good”. Madame Toussaint nodded. “You know her weaknesses then”. 

Raising her head to Sarah’s direction, Madame Toussaint cried,

“Ms. Louden, the rules have changed”.

Sarah looked up, surprised. 

“Your next match will be with Mr. Christopher Cross, the captain of the boys team. He’s ranked first in America for his age division”. 

Chris walked to where Sarah was and winked. 

“Relax. We do this all the time”. He said, putting on his mask. 

Madame Toussaint approached them carrying sets of swords.

“Alright, pick your weapon”, She said. “Saber, sword or epée?”

Chris grinned. “Ladies choice”. He answered, gesturing towards Sarah. 

Sarah picked the Saber and the two got into guard stance. 

“En garde!” Madame Toussaint yelled. “Pret!...Allez!”. 

Chris and Sarah began parrying their swords. Sarah had very good reflexes but Chris was faster and more experienced. She put up a good fight, but in the end, she lost her balance and fell to the floor.

“Touché!” Mr. Ashton screamed as the tip of Chris’s saber touched Sarah’s heart. 

Chris immediately held his arm out and pulled Sarah up. 

“You passed”. Madame Toussaint told Sarah. “Be here tomorrow after class for practice”.


	7. A Date is a Date Right?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Was it a first date?

Chris was right. Madame Toussaint was the coach from hell. The sobriquets Madame Fuhrer and Fraulein Hitler barely did her justice. Sarah realized that her new coach liked to control every aspect of her fencers’ lives. All members of the team no matter how near the campus they lived, were required to board in the Eden Hall Dorms. They had to spend all their free time after class and agreed-upon study hours, training. The team also had to sit together in one table at lunch where they were not allowed to talk, and were forced to eat Madame Toussaint’s prescribed meals, under her watchful gaze. 

Sarah learned early on that friendships outside the team were discouraged. Madame Toussaint divided her girls into groups or pairs according to their years, and made sure that they had the same class schedule. She would often visit the girls in class to see if they kept to themselves and were not associating with the other students. As a result, the fencing girls had no friends outside the team, and were thought of as stuck up by the rest of the student body. They were prohibited from eating sweets and junk food, were required to train during school functions and holidays and were forbidden from dating and maintaining male friendships. 

None of them dared to question or disobey the Madame Fuhrer. She always found out about any breach of her rules, and made sure that the errant girl paid. On her first day of training, Sarah saw Madame Toussaint suspend a scholarship girl for three tournaments simply because she watched a movie with a boy, on a Sunday night. 

Sarah felt lonely and scared. She missed Wolsham and desperately wanted to be back in England. Her only consolation was that she was too exhausted after training and studying to feel unhappy or sorry for herself. 

As the newest member of the team, Sarah discovered that she was the lowest of the low. No matter how good or talented a fencer she is, she as the most junior, was expected to do what the older members of the team didn’t want to do. This included foil duty, or the glamorous job of carrying the swords in between tournaments, and making sure that they were polished and shined according to Madame Toussaint’s standards. 

Sarah couldn’t polish the swords while she was on training or in class and she couldn’t allow foil duty to interfere with her study time either. As a result, she was forced to do it after 9:00 p.m. every Wednesday and Friday Night. She knew she would be tired and sleepy by that time, but what could she do? 

It was during one of these nights when she saw him again. She felt suffocated by the fencing room and on an impulse, decided to polish the swords out in the P.E. Gym. She had her I-Pod and energy drink and was mentally prepared to work until midnight. She carried the pile of swords out of the fencing room and sat with her legs folded on the gym floor, her back pressed to the wall. 

“Sarah?” A familiar voice said. 

Sarah’s eyes grew wide and her stomach fluttered. “Oh god!” she thought. 

She’d know that voice anywhere. Looking up she saw the blue eyed demi god staring down at her.

“What are you doing here?” He asked, his voice smooth and deep. 

“Adam! Hi…” Sarah answered, looking very much flustered. “Foil duty”. She said, before quickly dropping her head again. 

Adam put down his back pack and sat on the floor next to her. 

“Can I help?” He asked. 

Sarah shook her head without looking at him. 

“Thank you so much” she said. “But my coach expects me to do this on my own. She’ll have a fit if she finds out that I had help outside my team”. 

Adam grinned. 

“It’s late. She’s not here is she?” He asked. 

“I don’t think so”. Sarah replied, raising her eyes to his. 

“Well then she’ll never find out, will she?” 

Sarah shrugged and then smiled. 

“I suppose not”. 

Adam took one of the rags on the floor and the bottle of polish. 

“How do you do this then?” He asked. 

Sarah taught him how to put polish on the rag and how apply it on the swords. She wasn’t quite sure if Madame Toussaint had already left, but she didn’t care. She felt as if she could spend all the time in the world with this boy. They spoke about school, then music and their favorite TV shows. He told her about American Rock Bands and she in turn introduced him to British pop. They traded I-Pods and Adam found that he liked The Script and The Libertines. While Sarah admitted that she found his selection of Greenday and the Dave Matthews Band interesting. 

By 10:30 they were almost done. Adam then told Sarah that he was hungry and asked if she liked pizza. She said yes and he called Dominos. Adam then helped her carry the swords back to the fencing room.

The pizza arrived and they ate in a backdrop which alternated between nonesense and companionable silence. To her surprise Sarah found herself enjoying Adam’s company. It took only the first fifteen minutes of being around him to eliminate her shyness. She felt comfortable, safe and respected. She thought he was witty and funny and realized that she was laughing with him all through out the night. When the clock struck midnight, he insisted on walking her back to her dorm. Sarah let him, and to both their surprise, she kissed him on the cheek before leaving him outside the building’s door.

She knew Julie would already be asleep when she arrived. But she still felt disappointed because she very much wanted to ask her what constituted a “date” in America. She didn’t date in England. She was never around boys. She wanted to know what exactly it was that happened between her and Adam that night. Her mind was so distracted by thoughts of him that she no longer felt sleepy or tired. She wished she could jog outside the grounds but she knew it wasn’t allowed at that time. So with a frustrated sigh she closed her eyes and willed herself to sleep, her mind replaying the events which occurred, three hours prior. 

She could see it all over again. Her mind recalling with precision his face, his expressions and his every word. She can even remember how the gym, the fencing room and the pizza looked,, to the minutest detail. 

She was so happy, that she preserved every detail of that evening in her memory. She saw and noticed everything after all. Everything, except for Madame Toussaint’s hidden form and disapproving eyes from across the gym.


	8. Consequences

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I changed the rating to mature. Though the story will still have teenage fluff and angst, it will start to have adult material from now on. This one deals with abuse by coaches. Let me know what you think.

"Breathe”. Sarah told herself. 

To say that she was petrified was an understatement. She found herself in the fencing room, surrounded by her teammates in a half circle, with Madame Toussaint directly before her.

“Well Sarah”, the woman began as she leaned from her throne like chair. “Do you have anything to say for yourself”. 

Sarah's voice shook. 

“No Madame. I have no excuse”. 

Madame Toussaint slit her eyes and shook her head. 

"Pathetic" She thought. 

“Tell your teammates what you did”. 

“I…I” Sarah stutterd. 

“You what!?!” Madame Toussaint screeched. 

“I allowed an outsider to help me polish the team’s swords”. 

“What else!” 

“I had dinner with him”. 

Madame Toussaint stood up and screamed.

“You shared a pizza with him!” 

Sarah stood still, not daring to say another word. 

“Are you allowed to have pizza or eat junk food while you are under my training?” 

Sarah shook her head.

“No Madame”. 

“So why did you do it?” Madame Toussaint hissed. 

“A…Adam was very kind. He knew I could use the help”. 

“So why didn’t you ask your teammates to help you?” 

 

Sarah wanted to cry. 

“I didn’t think about it”. 

Madame Toussaint clucked her tongue and shook her head.

“No my dear, you weren’t thinking at all". 

Sarah lowered her eyes and said the words she knew her Coach was expecting to hear.

“I’m sorry, Madame. I won’t break your rules again”. 

Madame Toussaint gave her a look of pure derision. 

“No you won’t." The coach nodded in agreement. 

"Because the next time you break my rules I will suspend you indefinitely. I don’t care how good you think you are. And I know how embarrassed your father will be if he finds out that his little girl won't be allowed to compete”. 

Sarah wanted to laugh. She had a good mind of telling Madame Toussaint to go right ahead and do it. Her father wouldn’t care anyway. But knowing fully well that it was neither the time nor the place to be impertinent, she shut her mouth and kept her eyes on the ground. 

“Because this is your first offense, I will double your foil duty hours. You will now have to polish and keep the swords for four nights this week and next”. 

Sarah sighed in relief. But before she could thank Madame Toussaint for her leniency, the evil woman continued, 

“You will also be subject to your team’s discipline”.

Sarah looked up, confused. “I don’t understand”. 

Madame Toussaint walked to her and flashed her a menacing smile. She leaned her head towards the frightened girl and whispered, 

 

“You will”. 

She returned to her chair and clapped her hands three times.

 

“En guard”. Madame Toussaint screamed. 

Sarah’s teammates immediately pointed their swords at her. 

“I suggest you put on your mask”. Madame Toussaint drawled. “You wouldn’t want your teammates to scar your pretty face”. 

Panicking, Sarah pulled down her mask and gripped her foil. 

“Pret!” Madame Toussaint’s voice boomed. 

“Allez!”. 

Sarah was bruised and cut by the many swords that not only attacked her foil, but her body as well. Two minutes after the attack, she was disarmed. That was when some of her masked teammates let go of their own swords and started using their fists. When she screamed at Madame Toussaint to make them stop, the woman ignored her and coldly watched as her body was manhandled, poked and prodded. When it was over, Sarah was left in a crying and bloody heap on the floor.


End file.
